Welder&#39;s helmet



March 27, 1951 J. DORAN WELDERS HELMET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 22,1944 FIG. 1

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Patented Mar. 27, 1951 WELDERS HELMET Joseph Duran, St. Louis, Mo.,assignor to Joseph J. Doran, Barrington, Ill.

Application November 22, 1944, Serial No. 564,599

4 Claims.

The invention relates to hoods or shields, and more specifically todevices of this class worn by workers in various industries where theeyes may be harmed either by intense light or by particles of foreignmatter flying into the eyes, welders being a large group generallywearing such devices.

ihe invention has among its objects, the production of such a devicethat will be neat and simple, sturdy in construction, easy to operate,relatively low in cost, safe in operation, and which will be otherwisesatisfactory and efficient for the uses to which the device isapplicable.

A further object of this invention is to provide means in such a weldershood, that will enable him to lift the darkened panel normally coveringthe sight opening, with a simple downward movement of his chin, and toclose said opening with a like, but shorter movement of his chin.

An added object of the invention is to so construct the device of thekind described, so that after the darkened panel has been lifted by themovement of the chin, to open the sight opening, it will beautomatically maintained open, all without the use of the hands, for aslong as desired, and also without holding the chin on the actuatingmeans, and when it is desired to again close the darkened panel, amovement of the chin, but lesser in distance moved, will release saidpanel and permit the panel to be automatically retrieved to normal,closed position.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown anddescribed, and uses mentioned, will be obvious to those skilled in theart to which this invention appertains, as will be more clearly apparentfrom the disclosures herein given.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like orcorresponding parts throughout the views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the windowoperating mechanism, withthe hood and the cover part of the housing, the full lines indicatingthe positions of the various parts at the end of window liftingmovement; I

Figure 2 Ba vertical cross-sectional view of the same, with a fragmentof the shown;

Figure 3 is a skeleton elevaticnal View of the parts that directlyengage the window-actuating lever, the full'lines indicating the partsat the end of lift, and the dotted lines indicating the same immediatelyprior to the start of lift; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the device mounted on the hood, readyfor wear.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein I have illustrateda preferred embodiment of my invention, there is shown, a hood or shieldI, preferably of rectangular transverse cross-section and of such sizethat it willreadily permit the entry of the wearers head into the same.

In order to fit with more comfort, and permit adjustment for a range ofbody sizes, I have provided shoulder-engaging elements 2 slidablyadjustably connected to the sides of the hood,

somewhat as shown, and thus it is possible to vertically adjust the hoodso as to enable the wearer to more comfortably wear the same and permitof efficient vision through the sight opening of the hood.

Workers doing welding and similar tasks, find that there is quite a bitof discomfort connected with such work, not only on account of theenvelopment of the head by the hood, but on account of injurious orodorous fumes and gases that tend to rise upwardly of the hoods and arebreathed by the worker. This'action is not only harmful in itself, buttends to make for inefficient work, and I have so constructed the hoodthat these objections are overcome and efiiciency of the workman isincreased, through means associated with the hood, for forcing the airdownwardly to thus prevent the fumes from rising within the hood, butcooling the head, back, chest and shoulders of the worker.

To this purpose, I have mounted an electrically-driven fan or blower 3adjacent the top of the hood, the motor 4 being suitably provided withthe lead-wires 5 to a source of electrical energy, and the blowerdischarging at 5 through an opening in the top of the hood, somewhat asindicated.

The air is thus forcibly circulated, being driven downwardl through thehood, about the face, neck, back, shoulders, chest and adjacent portionsof the body of the wearer, and discharged from the bottom of the hood.Obviously, this current of air adds greatly to the comfort of the weareras well as promoting his increased efiiciency.

During the course of work, it is often requisite to inspect the piecebeing welded, to read a blueprint, and for many other purposes, and itis a great waste of time to take off the hood, or to even manually liftthe darkened sight-opening cover todo this.

To overcome this, I have arranged means so that the hands need not bereleased from the tools or piece of work being operated on, but uponiorly of the hood the ends of the frame being en- 1 larged to formupright channels @545. The frame has a bottom channel with a cut-out 16substantially centrally of said bottom, and through which a lever I Iextends, as will be'hereinafter described.

A panel 52 of dark glass is mounted'to'slide vertically between thesheets 7-4 of the frame; normally resting adjacent thechannel ,Qwhen thehood is worn and the sight opening is dark,- ened.

Lifting of the panel [2 is constantly resisted by one or more springs l3'or the like placed in the channels 5l5, the same bearing onsaid paneland tending to return or retrieve the lifted panel to its lowered orclosed position whenever the force maintaining the panel lifted isreleased. Pieces of uncolored glass or other suit-- able transparentmaterial I l-44, are removably mounted in the frame, parallel to andpreferably at either side of andare stationary relative to said paneli2, in order to protect the latter against accidental breakage, dirt andgrease,'etc., and to protect the eyes against the danger of anyparticles of foreign matter flying into-the hood while the panel islifted, and these elements l l-l l may be replaced easily in the eventthat they become damaged.

The lever l i, previously mentioned, is movable up and down through theopening); and hasconsiderableside play so as to permit of angularmovement, said lever being pivotally connected at its upper end to thebottom edge of the panel l2, or as shown, to a cross bar l5 supportingthe I latter, while the lower end of said lever extends through anopening 42 in a fixedly mounted circular flange t8, and said lower endof the leveris shaped to form a transversely offset tooth or foot 46. Aseries of pins or projections I'Lthere being four in the modificationillustrated, are arranged at equal circumferential distances apart onthe periphery of a rotary disk l8, the latter being journalled on theshaft [8 for rotary movement.

A cover 47 may be removably held in place against the flange 41%;, onthe shaft iEL-asshownin Fig: 2.

When the foot end It of the lever l l is in engagernent with the pin orprojection H that is farthestto the left. as shown in dotted-lines inFig. and the disk is rotated clock-wise, the lever ii will be actuatedupwardly, moving the dark panel !2 upwardly against the pressure ofthe-retriever springs i3, and will maintainsaid with the said lever.

the left;

Cam portions 28 are constructed on thepe--- riphery-of said disk lfiyoneadjacent each ofsaid pins; I'i', with their. radially outermost pointsclosest their cooperating pin and with. their pe ripheral surfacesgradually :decreasing. radially,-

somewhat as shown;

A plurality of teeth Zi-Zl arefixedtosaid rotary disk 18 to movetogether therewith-these. teeth being substantially alike, equi-distant'cin' cumferentially from one another, andxat .illke 60 panel lifted aslong as the pin is held interlocked A spring E9 is mounted between saidlever and.v the. bar l5 to constantly urge or press the toothedendofwsaidlever to radial distances from the rotational axis of the disk,and said disk is rotated by lateral pull applied on any one of theseteeth, as will now be described.

A plate 22 is provided with an inclined slot 23 therethrough, said slotpreferably closed at the ends, there being an actuating pawl 24successively operably engageable with said teeth 2 l-2| in sequence,said pawl being carried..by;at-spring arm at fixed at its other end tothe underside of said plate 22. A second, cooperating pawl 25, mountedon a spring arm 4| fixed to any stationary element, has its toothed endprojecting into the path of rotational travel of the teeth 2l2l.

-Said spring arm is fixed at one end to an annulus '48 that is fixed tothe flange to extend radially inwardly ,thereof.

When the plate 22 is urged to the right, through a chin-controlled meansto be hereinafter described, it will be guided downwardly as well,

through engagement. of its diagonal slot23with the. shaft i9, and oneor. m0re.fingers-326, 2'l, may

be mounted on; any stationary elementas foriexample the annulus. 48, toclosely overlie;said: plateso that the latter is :guidedrto movesub'--stantially in. a plane,

An arm 23 is fulcrumed intermediate its ends;

to said annulus 48, as at, 29,-ithe. upper end. of said arm being.pivotally'conneoted to s the plate.:22v preferably adjacent theright-hand of the latter, and..a spring may be interposed.betweenltherilower'end of said arm. and :a'fixed element 30,

to thereby constantly urgev said arm: to press "its:

upper portion towards-the. left."

When the variouselements arein their normal: positions, that is to say;withthe dark :panel-i closed, the spring 3!! will have moved the arm28so as to positionthe plate; 22 'tosa :point farthest left, as:showniindotted lines :in Figgl, whereat the pawl 24 will be interlocked,w-ithfthe1t00th 2| brought uppermost, whilethe pawl 25. willbe'interlocked with the tooth 2! that is 'tofthe'rleft j. of and nextadjacent said "highest'tooth; Thus,

the disk will be held at'each quarter'turn on-a single pull of said arm28.

N ow that the various parts are in the positions recited, an upwardthrusttonthe "lower end :oi! the arm 28 will pivotally move theother endof said armto the right .(against the tensiontof thespring 36), theplate '22 being actuated downwardly and to the right, and withthe'pawl'24: pulling the highest tooth to rotate" the disk. through'a quarterturnywhileflatithe 'same'vtimer, the foot of the lever H isactuatedupwardly. and-1. to the right from theposition shown indottd lines inFig. 3, to lift the panel. At the limit of upward movement of the lowerend of the:arm;'28, and releasing of said arm, the .spring 30' will re-'1 trieve said plate to its normal'positiomishown in; dotted lines inFig. 1, while the footendofithe lever I t will remain interlocked withthe pin'then at highest point, to' hold the dark'panel lifted.

To cause said dark panel to'lower to normal' position, after it: hasbeen-liftedl'to opened. posi-m .tion, I again urge thelowen-end of-"ithefulcrum. lever Edupwardly, inf-the same :manner as that employed forlifting the panel, but'onlyaislight upward lift of the lever 28 isnecessarypand bhly sufficient to pull. the pin'thenhighest-slightly to'the right, whereuponthe footlfimoves. slightly, to the right to engageand stop at one edg'eof the casing slot 42,-and as soonas saidlast-mentioned pin has been actuated free of engagement with:

the foot, the spring lflthrows the lever slightly ;in the oppositedirection '(that is, to the left):,'and"v the panel retriever springs l3immediately thrust the said panel to its lowered position. The camportion 2%? prevent the lever H from dropping straight down as the paneldrops, but on the contrary directs said lever toward the left as thelatter drops.

The lever ll then re-engages the pin to the left, next following the onejust released (see Fig. 3), whereupon an upward pressure on the lowerend of the arm 28 will re-lift the panel through lifting of said lever ll in the same manner as just described.

In order that the hands need not be used for any operation of the panelmoving means, a chincontrolled operating means has been used. A lever 3|is pivomd intermediate its ends, as at 32, to a fixed bracket carried bythe framework of the device, and an extension 33 is hinged at 34 to anend of said lever 3!, in such a manner to stop pivotal movement of theextension after the latter and said lever 31 are in alignment, butpermit of folding the extension up toward the disk. This increases theclearance in the hood to permit the lever extension to pass the face ofthe wearer of the hood, and after donning the hood, the extension may belowered to operative position. A small platform 39 may be fixed adjacentthe free end of said extension, and is adapted to be in juxtaposition tothe bottom of the chin when the mouth of the wearer is in normal, closedposition. However, a downward movement of the chin, as by opening of themouth the required amount, will depress said platform the half-inch orso required for operation of the device.

In order to transmit the chin movement of the platform to the fulcrumlever 28, and subsequent operation of the panel-lifting and loweringmechanism, the inner end of the lever 3| is connected by a universaljoint 35 to the lower end of a link 36, the latter being pivotallyconnected at its upper end to said fulcrum arm 28.

Obviously, with a mechanism of the kind described, the panel may belifted and lowered by operation of the chin while wearing the hood, themovement of the chin being in the same direction for both the openingand the closing of the dark panel, namely downwardly, so that it is notnecessary for the wearer to remember whether or not he ought bring hischin up or bring it down, as would be the case if the mechanism requiredopposed movements for lowering or opening of the panel.

Although other types of means may be used to secured the hood to thehead, I have found that an extremely comfortable and simple form is thatshown, wherein a resilient pad is mounted in the rear wall of the hood,to receive the rear of the head, and a resilient band is mounted in thefront wall of the hood to engage the forehead, these elements beingindicated at 43 and 44 respectively,

Having thus described my invention, it is obvlous that variousimmaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing fromthe spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the exact form, arrangement, construction andcombination of parts herein shown and described, except as limited bythe state of the art to which this invention appertains and the claimshereunto appended.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device of the kind described, comprising a head hood provided witha panel normally closing the sight opening through the hood, rotarymeans having a plurality of ciroumferentially spaced projections thereonto lift said panel, chincontrolled mean for operating said rotary means,and means rel-easably holding said panel in opened position after onefull movement of said chin-controlled means and retrieving the same t3closed position immediately after the commencement of the next likemovement of said chin-controlled means.

2. In a hood of the kind described, adapted to cover the wearers headand provided with a panel normally closing a sight opening through thehood, a rotary disk having a plurality of circumferentially spacedprojections thereon, a lever operable between said panel and disk andengageable by said projections in sequence as the disk is rotated,chin-operated means movable successively in the same direction to openand to close said panel and including retriever means operable to closesaid panel after said lever is disengaged by any of said projections.

3. In a hood of the kind described and adapted to be worn over the headand provided with a movable panel at a sight opening, a rotary diskhaving circumferentially spaced projections, a lever pivoted to saidpanel and successively engageable by said projections to lift said panelas the projection in engagement therewith is actuated uppermost, meansfor advancing said disk circumferentially the distance substantiallyequal to the space between adjacent projections, means for retrievingsaid last-mentioned advancing means after each actuation, andchin-controlled means operable by pressure of the chin thereagainst foroperating said disk-advancing means and for operating said retrievingmeans.

4. A device of the kind described, comprising a head-receiving hoodhaving a sight opening therethrough, a panel closing said opening andurged to normal position therein by a yieldable means, a rotary membersupported by the hood and having a series of circumferentially spacedprojections thereon, means connected to the panel and positioned forsuccessive engagement by said projections, chin-controlled meansoperatively movable in one direction, means operative by saidchin-controlled means and successively engageable with said rotarymember for moving the same through a predetermined angular range forengagement of one of said projections with said first means to move saidpanel out of said opening and retain same in such position, and meansoperative upon a second movement of said chincontrolled means in thesame direction and of less extent for conditioning said panel forsightopening closing movement under the action of said yieldable means.

JOSEPH DORAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 432,728 Eliel July 22, 1890737,373 Eagle et a1 Aug. 25, 1903 1,699,652 Brinkhaus Jan. 22, 19291,842,675 Kannenberg Jan. 26, 1932 1,999 639 Rosenberger Apr. 30, 19352,174,667 Mentetski Oct. 3, 1939

